Stephen Cohen: Obama, Kerry Must Seize Putin’s Offer of Diplomacy

September 13, 2013

Calling for the US political class to “rise to this occasion,” Prof. Stephen F. Cohen went on HuffPost Live last night to talk about the chances for international co-operation with Russia on the Syrian War. The conversation comes on the back of his and Katrina vanden Heuvel’s article in The Nation this week that promoted negotiations over airstrikes. He hailed Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's call for diplomacy in yesterday's New York Times and explained how he had been demonized in the US media. “In life, in politics, in love, in history, there are no last chances, but there are really good opportunities that get lost; this is a magnificent opportunity to solve problems,” he explained. “We will suddenly have countries who are normally at each others' throats co-operating; might they go on to co-operate elsewhere?”